Raees Trailer Review: Trade and Audience response

It’s been a long journey for Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees. The film went on floors early 2015, the brilliant teaser was released on Eid last year, the much-hyped clash with Sultan was averted during Eid this year.. and finally amidst more release date controversy and leaks, the theatrical trailer was put out for the audience.

Like almost all Shah Rukh Khan movies, the release of the trailer has generated instant hype and the PR too is in over-drive. Not only has ‘Facebook views’ been added to the ‘YouTube views’, but even the views on Instragram is being added to the tally – which has now, all combined, crossed the 30 million mark.

While ‘trailer records’ make absolutely no difference at the box office, what’s important is the response to the trailer from the trade and audience.

Positives of Raees Trailer:

• Shah Rukh Khan in a role with negative shades: It cannot get any bigger or better than SRK playing the lead antagonist cum hero. Darr and Baazigar were loved and the Don series of films continues to be a fan-favourite. It’s the single biggest reason why Raees is one of the most-awaited films of 2017.
• SRK vs Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Not many can match SRK when it comes to on-screen histrionics in a negative role, but Nawaz is a brilliant actor. His presence has been felt in the trailer, which promises to make the one-upmanship or the cat and mouse game between the two phenomenally exciting.  Performance-wise, Raees will be a film to watch out for.
• 80s masala entertainer: Right from the font / styling of the title to what we get to see in the trailer, Raees would remind the older generation of film-going audience about some of the Bachchan classics from the 80s. A few people in the trade were quick to get nostalgic and point this out saying the film will be huge at single screens and smaller centres.
• Dialogues and dialogue-delivery: It’s difficult to describe, but Shah Rukh Khan is outstanding when it comes to dialogue delivery, especially when playing characters with evil shades. The dialogue writers have done justice too as ‘Ammi Jaan Kehti thi…..’, ‘Baniye ka dimaag, Miyanbhai ki daring’, ‘Battery saala’ or even the ‘Aa Raha Hoon’ has already become popular.

A few question marks (may not be trailer specific):

• Crime Thriller: It’s not the kind of film that would bring the family audience out in big numbers to the theatre. A film based on illegal alcohol trade, with an item number from Sunny Leone could have a negative impact on ticket sales.
• The director: Rahul Dholakia has directed three films so far in his career (not including a small segment in Mumbai Cutting) and all three were box office disasters. While he won critical acclaim and a national award for ‘Parzania’, commercial success has eluded him so far. Content is going to be very important as it all comes to word-of-mouth after the first 2 days.

The Numbers:

We asked 31 people in the trade (including theatre owners, distributors, trade veterans etc) for their feedback on the trailer. The response was generally very positive – 26 of them said the trailer was ‘good’, 3 said it was ‘average’, 2 said it was ‘poor’. None of these people were in any which way associated with the main men behind Excel Entertainment or Red Chillies Entertainment. Opinions were from known and unbiased sources.

The response from the audience was ‘positive’ too. In a poll on Twitter, we asked our followers if they liked the trailer. 75% people voted for ‘yes’ and 25% voted for ‘no’.

Did you like the #RaeesTrailer

— Indicine.com (@indicine) December 7, 2016

We have tied up with two exhibitors to get genuine opinion on the trailer. The results were interesting!

At one theatre from the Mysore circuit, we got 68 responses, out of which

• 26 people said they’ll watch Raees
• 29 said they’ll wait for the reviews and then decide between Kaabil or Raees
• 11 said they’ll watch Kaabil
• 2 said they’ll skip both!

At another theatre in Mumbai circuit we asked the same question to 76 people:

• 23 said they’ll watch Raees
• 37 said they’ll wait for the feedback / reviews and then decide between Raees and Kaabil
• 12 said they’ll watch Kaabil
• 4 said both movies will be skipped

Our rating for the Raees Trailer is 8 on 10.

Movie	Trade Response	Audience Response	Our Rating
Wazir	Average	Average	6
Airlift	Winner	Outstanding	8
Kya Kool Hai Hum 3	Average	Poor	3
Mastizaade	Average	Poor	2
Saala Khadoos	Average	Good	7
Ghayal Once Again	Average	Average	4
Sanam Teri Kasam	Average	Average	4
Fitoor	Poor	Average	4
Neerja	Average	Good	8
Love Shhuda	Poor	Poor	4
Tere Bin Laden 2	Poor	Average	5
Jai Gangaajal	Average	Average	5
Teraa Suroor 2	Average	Poor	1
Kapoor & Sons	Winner	Good	7
Rocky Handsome	Average	Average	5
Ki And Ka	Winner	Good	7
Fan	Winner	Good	8
Baaghi	Winner	Good	6
1920 London	Average	Average	3
Azhar	Average	Average	4
Sarabjit	Average	Good	6
Housefull 3	Average	Average	5
TE3N	Negative	Average	7
Udta Punjab	Average	Average	6
Sultan	Unanimous Winner	Oustanding	8
Great Grand Masti	Winner	Average	6
Dishoom	Average	Average	5
Mohenjo Daro	Average	Average	7
Rustom	Winner	Good	8
Happy Bhaag Jayegi	Average	Average	6
A Flying Jatt	Winner	Average	7
Akira	Average	Average	5
Baar Baar Dekho	Average	Good	7
Shivaay	Winner	Oustanding	8
Raaz Reboot	Poor	Poor	3
Pink	Average	Good	7
MS Dhoni	Winner	Good	8
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil	Poor	Average	5
Force 2	Winner	Average	6
Befikre	Poor	Average	6
Rock On 2	Poor	Poor	4
Tum Bin 2	Poor	Poor	3
Kahaani 2	Good	Good	7
Dangal	Winner	Outstanding	8
Kaabil	Good	Good	7
Raees	Winner	Good	8